Abstract. Local ammonia emissions from agricultural activities are often associated with high nitrogen deposition in the close vicinity of the sources. High nitrogen (N) inputs may significantly affect the local ecosystems. Over a longer term, high loads may change the composition of the ecosystems, leading to a general decrease in local biodiversity. In Europe there is currently a significant focus on the impact of atmospheric N load on local ecosystems among environmental managers and policy makers. Model tools designed for application in N deposition assessment and aimed for use in the regulation of anthropogenic nitrogen emissions are, therefore, under development in many European countries. The aim of this paper is to present a review of the current understanding and modelling parameterizations of atmospheric N deposition. A special focus is on the development of operational tools for use in environmental assessment and regulation related to agricultural ammonia emissions. For the often large number of environmental impact assessments needed to be carried out by local environmental managers there is, furthermore, a need for simple and fast model systems. These systems must capture the most important aspects of dispersion and deposition of N in the nearby environment of farms with animal production. The paper includes a discussion on the demands on the models applied in environmental assessment and regulation and how these demands are fulfilled in current state-of-the-art models.